We lost our beloved Puck yesterday. It was a complete shock and totally unexpected.

It started Wednesday evening shortly before bedtime. We can’t sleep with our door open, mostly because of Chris, so we have to make sure everyone is out of the room before going to bed. I accounted for everyone but Puck so I looked under our bed and there he was. I got out the Stella and Chewey’s and announced loudly ” KITTY TREATS!” That got Chris, Frankie, and Floki to immediately run into the kitchen but Puck stayed under the bed.

I assumed he wasn’t feeling well and I felt bad but I pulled him out from under the bed and set him on top of the utility cart in the kitchen. It was one of Puck’s favorite places to hang out, which is why we always kept a rug on top of it. But he didn’t want to be there. Instead, he jumped on my shoulders so I could carry him to the top of the china cabinet. He liked it there because nobody could bother him.

I then went into the Florida room to shut the computer down. When I did I put my hand on the chair and into a pile of cat puke. I turned a light on and it looked like undigested food from dinner. In particular, Puck’s special food. It is usually Frankie who pukes, not Puck, so I figured he had the stomach flu or whatever it is that cats get. I thought if he was still sick in the morning I would try to get him in to see the vet.

The next morning he was still on top of the china cabinet. He hadn’t moved from that spot all night.

That definitely wasn’t good so I called the vet when they opened at 7:30. They said to bring him in at 8:20. I had to get a step stool to reach him and at 8:00 I pulled him down and put him in his carrier.

We were at the vet by 8:10 and they put us in a room right away. I opened Puck’s carrier but he just lied there.

The vet tech came in and took Puck to the back room where they do their secret experiments. She then brought him back and the vet came in and examined Puck. The vet said his bladder felt full and he could be blocked. She tried to get some urine out of him but couldn’t. As we waited for lab tests the vet drew up a treatment plan which was going to require Puck to be there overnight and possibly for a few days. I don’t remember the details but she did say something about a catheter.

As we waited for the vet, Puck was lying on the table and he looked so weak. I stood there and petted him for a long time until the vet came back with a list of treatment options and cost, which was not cheap. We then left Puck at the vet.

I was in the car with Rose an hour later when her phone rang. It was the vet. We assumed they were calling to give us an update on their treatment plan because some of the options were dependent on unknown factors at the time. Instead, we heard that Puck’s heart had stopped and they were performing CPR.

That hit us both like a brick. We were not expecting that. If we were home we could have been there in three minutes but we were twenty miles away in Tampa. We could only hope that they could revive him but we weren’t hopeful from the tone of the call. About a half hour later we got the call that he was gone.

It is always sad to lose a pet but to lose one so suddenly at only five and a half years old makes it even harder. It also didn’t help that it happened on the anniversary of my father’s death.

Whenever something bad happens I figure out ways to blame myself. Maybe I should have brought him to the emergency vet the night before. Maybe I should have thought not cleaning pee off the floor for more than a day was a bad thing.

The vet said he was there six times for the same problem. Perhaps I should have brought him to a different vet sooner. I wanted to on visit number five. Puck had seen another vet for his excessive licking problem and that vet was more holistic, which is what I want in a vet, but he was also quite conventional too and not afraid to dole out antibiotics. The problem was that vet was much harder to get an appointment with and didn’t open until 9 a.m. while Puck’s current vet opened at 7:30. I should have risked it.

I also became more diligent about getting Puck to eat his special food. I stopped mixing it with the homemade raw. The food was supposed to eliminate the crystals, not make them worse. I did have a thought about a while back that if the vet was wrong about the type of crystals Puck had then the food could make them worse. I thought about asking the vet what type of crystals they found in his urine but then thought that would be insulting and chose to trust they knew what they were doing.

I don’t want to place blame on anyone here. Sometimes bad things just happen and I do know the people at the vet’s office are very caring people and I also know I am not perfect but not because of lack of effort. What I want is to say I appreciate everyone who has been so supportive and caring since learning about Pucks passing. It is good to have people who understand and care.

I will post more about Puck’s life sometime next week. I hope you will take the time to remember him with me.